Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide

"Reckless Life" redirects here. For the Finnish glam rock band previously known as Reckless Life, see Reckless Love.

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Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide is a four-song EP released by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses on December 16, 1986 on the label UZI Suicide. (This was ostensibly a self-released record but UZI Suicide was actually part of Geffen Records.) When referred to by the band members talking about the EP, they have simply called it Live Like a Suicide. The record itself was reportedly limited to only 10,000 copies, and it came out only in vinyl and cassette formats.

According to Steven Adler's autobiography, My Appetite For Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns N' Roses, the entire EP was recorded at Pasha Studios in Hollywood with pre-recorded audience applause and cheering in the background, as Geffen's engineers told him "it would cost too much to actually record a live record". Duff McKagan says in his autobiography, It's So Easy (and other Lies), that "the crowd noise...is from a 1970's rock festival called the Texxas Jam. We thought it would be funny to put a huge stadium crowd in the background at a time when we were lucky to be playing to a few hundred."

One song considered for this EP was "Shadow of Your Love", which never made it onto the album, and later released on the EP Live from the Jungle. In 1988, the recordings featured on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide were re-released along with four new songs as the album G N' R Lies.

Artwork

The front cover consists of a photograph of two of the band members, Duff McKagan and Axl Rose (from left to right), with an early Guns N' Roses logo, designed by Slash, overhead. The artwork from this EP is also featured in the G N' R Lies album artwork.

Promotion

In 2010, Steven Adler claimed that Guns N' Roses got Rodney on the ROQ at KROQ-FM to initially play "Reckless Life" by giving Rodney one gram of cocaine.

Song information

The four songs were selected from the band's demo tapes: two are cover versions and two are originals. The EP was a faux-live recording with overdubbed crowd noise, but these are in fact studio performances.

"Reckless Life" is the opening track on the EP. It opens with Slash shouting "Hey fuckers! Suck on Guns N' fuckin' Roses!" This song was originally written by Hollywood Rose, which had included all the members of Guns N' Roses except Duff McKagan at one point or another. It was included in the Hollywood Rose compilation album The Roots of Guns N' Roses. "Nice Boys" is a cover of a song by Rose Tattoo. "Move to the City" features a horn section, and is the third track on the EP. "Mama Kin" is a cover of a song by Aerosmith, a band Guns N' Roses has cited as one of their major influences.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Reckless Life"	Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Chris Weber	3:20
2.	"Nice Boys" (Rose Tattoo cover)	Angry Anderson, Mick Cocks, Geordie Leach, Dallas "Digger" Royall, Peter Wells	3:03
3.	"Move to the City"	Izzy Stradlin, Del James, Weber	3:42
4.	"Mama Kin" (Aerosmith cover)	Steven Tyler	3:57
Total length:			13:22

Personnel

• W. Axl Rose – lead vocals, production
• Slash – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, production
• Izzy Stradlin – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals, production
• Duff "Rose" McKagan – bass, backing vocals, production
• Steven Adler – drums, backing vocals, percussion, production